Matthew McConaughey: ‘Stripping is like a drug’

Matthew McConaughey relished his role as a raunchy stripper in new movie Magic Mike, insisting shedding his clothes in front of a baying crowd was like a “drug.”

The Sahara star will portray Dallas, a retired dancer who owns the strip club where Channing Tatum’s character works in the movie, based on the G.I. Joe actor’s own brief stint as a stripper in his teens.

McConaughey wasn’t expected to take off his clothes for the role, but persuaded director Steven Soderbergh to let him bare all – and he admits the experience gave him a high.

He tells The Advocate, “It wasn’t in the script, but Soderbergh said in the beginning that if it felt right, I could strip at the end of the movie. I said, ‘I gotta dance, man.’ I would regret it for the rest of my life if I was in a male stripper movie and didn’t get up there and strip myself.

“At first it was scary as hell, but then it became like a drug, and I couldn’t wait to do it again. Look, I love to dance, but I’ve never been a stripper.

“Channing (Tatum)’s one of the best hip-hop street dancers I’ve ever seen, and I didn’t want to challenge his style, so I worked on my own strengths.I also knew that my dance had to be the dirtiest. It had to be wonderfully filthy.”